This relates generally to graphics processing and, particularly, to compression of depth buffers for stochastic motion blur rasterization.
Motion blur rasterization attempts to more accurately represent moving objects and, particularly, to represent the blur that is observed when objects move fast enough. Ignoring motion blur, information about the depths of primitives within the scene may be readily compressed. Particularly, the depth of each primitive may be determined as a distance from the imaging device to the primitive. Algorithms exist for reducing this depth information when motion blur is not involved.
However, when motion blur is involved, it is a much more complex operation to attempt to compress depth information.
Graphics processors tend to be extremely sensitive to increased power consumption with increased memory bandwidth usage. Memory bandwidth is also in itself a scarce resource on modern graphics processors. Currently, there is more emphasis on obtaining stochastic rasterization of motion blur and depth of field and to obtain this information on an interactive or even real time rendering basis. This involves significant memory bandwidth usage, implicating increased power consumption.